Carolyn Harstad, one of the founders of the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society 25 years ago, passed away July 24 in Minnesota.

For the past year, Carolyn battled pancreatic cancer. She pulled from the same resources she drew on to fight breast cancer three decades ago and was nothing if not optimistic and hopeful.

“As co-founders, Carolyn and I watched INPAWS grow during its 25-year history,” said Ruth Ann Ingraham of Indianapolis. “Paid memberships now approach 1,000, Facebook followers exceed 10,000, and seven active chapters cover Indiana from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River. Each of us lends a hand, or a shovel, one way or another to fulfill Carolyn’s vision and help Hoosiers understand the vital role native plants play in the web of life.”

A 17-year Indianapolis resident, the native Minnesotan put her love of native plants into three popular books. “Go Native Go Native: Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest” was published by Indiana University Press in 1999. “Got Shade?” followed in 2003 and “Got Sun?” in 2013, also with IU Press. She was a regular contributor to “Minnesota Gardener” magazine, a popular speaker about native plants and shade gardening, and an accomplished nature photographer.

And while all of these accomplishments are worth noting, I think of Carolyn as a wonderful teacher about native plants, their names, their history, attributes and faults. It was not uncommon to see her petite frame, donned in duck boots and brandishing a shovel, salvaging native plants from construction sites (always with permission) throughout the state.

Plants remind us of people and places and whenever I see hepaticas, I think of Carolyn in her Indianapolis garden on Lieber Road, introducing me to the little native spring bloomers she so loved.

Hepaticas are among her son Dave Harstad’s sweet memories of her, too, and he gave me permission to share his Facebook post. He wrote about walking the woods with his mom and described her nature perfectly.

“But when she found her favorite wildflower, hepatica, it was different. She’d lose her breath a little, and look at it intensely and quietly and without blinking,” he wrote. “She was just overwhelmed by the delicate beauty of those fleeting little purple or white or pink flowers. She just loved it. And like so many things in her life, she passed her passions onto those around her.

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“If you look for hepatica now, you won’t find it. It’s dormant until the spring. When it blooms it's a trailblazer, confidently pushing through the brown leaves and snow before almost anything else. You won’t find it in a crowded grouping, or in a formal garden. And it won’t be showing off like an orchid or a rose. Hepatica will be on its own, usually on the high ground but also comfortable in low areas, small and understated.

“If you find it, and take the time to really look at it, you’ll see why my was mom was right: Hepatica is unbelievably beautiful. It just may become your favorite flower. Like all flowers, it loves the bright sunshine that makes its way to the forest floor in early spring. But what makes it special is how bravely it endures the cold of early spring nights without complaining or wilting. And it doesn’t express any regret at how ephemeral its life is.”

Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp (hoosiergardener.com) is vice president of Garden Writers Association and co-author of “The Indiana Gardener's Guide.” Write to her at P.O. Box 20310, Indianapolis, IN 46220-0310, or e-mail thehoosiergardener@gmail.com